Center bearing for key mechanisms of wood-wind instruments



May 25,1926. 6 1,586,206

A. LOOMIS CENTER BEARING FOR KEY MECHANISMS OF WOOD WIND INS'I RUMENTS Filed March 7. 1922 Patented May 25, 1926.

ALLEN LOOMIS,0F TOLEDO, OHIO.

CENTER BEARING FOR KEY MECHANISMS OF WOOD-WIND INSTRUMENTS.

Application filed March 7, 1922. Serial No. 541,755.

which are a tubular body, whether made of woodor metal, and lateral holes adapted to be covered or opened to determinethe pitch of the musical tone emitted), many of the covers for the tone holes, and other holes, are connected with their operating finger keys by rods extending longitudinally of the instrument and mounted at their ends on bearings fixed in posts or pillars secured to the body of the instrument. Some of these rods are so long as to need central support in addition to the posts which provide end supports. This is the case for instance with bass saxophones and bass sarrusophones, in which the holes are so far apart that long key rods are used in many places,

and also with French type oboes which have a long key rod to permit operation of foot keys by the left little finger.

The practice heretofore followed in such circumstances has been either to provide a post with a small crotch in which the rod lies, as in the case of the saxophone, or to provide a removable bearing through which the rod is slipped endwise before the key is secured to the rod, in the case of the oboe referred to. Each of these devices is unsatisfactory for various reasons; the crotch because itdoes not hold the rod securely enough, since the mid-part of the rod is able to bend upward away from the crotch when the key is pressed upon; and the removable bearing because it is dlfficult to replace,

if repairsor renewal is required, and he cause its presence interferes with the final plating and finishing of the mechanism.

That is, the key and stopper are secured to the rod by brazing, an operation which has to be performed before the mechanism is plated or otherwise finished, and the presence of the loose bearing on the rod prevents good results in the'plating process.

My present invention is concerned with a bearing or support for rods of this character which embraces the rod andsoprevents displacement of the latter in any manner, and is capable of being applied to and removed from the rod after the key and hole stopper have been brazed fast and plated. In other words, the object of my invention is to provide an intermediate bearing which canbe applied to the rod and removed from it laterally instead of endwise, and which so far surrounds the rod as to retain it securely in place. This object I have accomplished b making the entire support from a post a apted to be secured to the body of the instrument, and a bearing member adapted to embrace the rod and to be removably secured in the post.

A further object which I have accomplished by this invention is to secure such removable bearing member in such post by a retainer which is also adapted to serve as a cone bearing for one end of another rod having a similar purpose and function to the rod which is thus embraced.

The invention may have various specific embodiments and two of its possible forms are described in the following specification and illustrated in the drawings accompany ing the same. I

Figure 1 of said drawings is a fragmen tary side elevation showing the preferred en'ibodiment of the invention in operative relation with a key mechanism.

Figure 2 is a perspective view on an enlarged scale, with parts broken away and shown in section, of the same embodiment.

Figures 3 and l are, respectively, sectional views on axial planes at right angles to one another of a pillar or post embodying the same form of the invention.

Fi ure 5 is an end view of the stock from which the bearing is made.

Figure 6 is a side elevation of a modified form of bearing member of the invention, and t Figure 7 is an elevation of the bearing member shown in Figure 6 prior to its being applied to the rod which it confines.

Like reference characters designate the same parts in all of the figures.

The illustration of Figure 1 is not intended to represent any specific instrument or any specific key mechanism but is of a generic nature typifying any wood wind instrument with any key mechanism of the sort to which this invention is applied.

The principal characteristic of such a mechanism is a long rod a supported at its ends in the usual or any other suitable manner by pillars or posts I) and a secured to the body (Z of the instrument, the stopper or cover a for a tone hole of the instrument and the finger key for operating such stopper being mounted on the rod and separated from each other by a long distance. My new invention consists of an improved supporting bearing for the rod more or less nearly at the middle point thereof.

Such supporting bearing may be made of two or more separable parts and akey device for holding them together. One of the forms here illustrated comprises three parts and the other two parts. In each form one of the parts is a pillar or post 1 which is adapted to be secured to the body (Z in any of the ways in which posts like those shown at Z) and 0 have been or may be secured, the other part of the supporting means comprising the bearing 2 which, in the preferred form shown in Figures 1. to 5 inclusive, is made in two parts divided from one another on a longitudinal medial plane and each being the duplicate of the other. The two parts when properly placed together form an annular bearing having a ransverse passage 3 in which the rod may be contained and a shank a which enters a complementally formed socket 5 in the pillar 1. In the shank l is a transverse opening 6 through which extends the ret-ainer or key member 7.

Such retainer is preferably a screw threaded into tapped openings in the opposite sides of the pillar in alinement with the passage 6. In many instances such screw may be made with a conical point 8 adapted to project from the side of the pillar to serve as a bearing for. the end of another rod 9 (Figure 1) forming part of another key mechanism. Thus the same member 7 may serve the double purpose of a retainer for the bearing and a. cone hearing for another key mechanism.

In the construction now being described, the entire bearing member 2 is formed of two duplicate half bearings, each having a semi-cylindrical recess in its outer end which forms half of the bearing opening 3, and a semi-cylindrical recess in the shank part which forms half of the opening 6 for the retainer. Each part also forms half of the shank i, which is preferably cylindrical for convenience of manufacture. The bearing member has a shoulder 9 which fits against the end of the pillar in order that the outer surface of the bearing part may continue the contour of the pillar without a break.

In cases where it is not feasible to have the retainer serve the additional function of a cone bearing, a corresponding screw or cotter device may be passed through the pillar and shank 4; in a direction at right angles to that in which it is shown in these drawings. In that case a complete hole is made in both halves of the shank 4:.

The bearing element 2 may be conveniently and economically made of half round stock in an automatic screw machine, the bars of such stock being held in the machine with their flat faces in contact and the external faces of both bars turned, formed and drilled in the same operations. As a. convenient means for locating the holes for the rod equally in each piece, such pieces are preferably beveled on their edges, as indicated at 10 and 11 in Figure 5. Evidently a support such as that just described can be readily applied to and removed from a rod, such as the rod a, by first applying the two halves of the bearing member 2 laterally upon opposite sides of the rod, and then inserting the shank of the removable bearing member into the pillar 1 and making it fast by the retainer. Obviously this can be done without disturbing the hole cover and finger key and, therefore, after the last-named parts have been permanently fastened to the rod and have received their ornamental finish. Disassembling and removal of the bearing is equally easy when repairs have. to be made. But when once assembled the bearing grasps the rod, making impossible displacement of the latter from its intended position.

In the other illustrated embodiment of the invention shown in Figures 6 and 7, the bearing member 2 is made of a single piece of a material which is sufficiently ductile or flexible to be bent, without breaking, into a half circle of which the radius is equal to that of the rod. Such member can be made economically by being cut from sheet metal and its opposite ends l and 4 formed in proper dies into semi-cylindrical shape with lateral shoulders 10 and 10 The middle part of the piece is a flat band which at its ends is formed to merge gradually with the said shoulders. This form of bearing member is applied to the rod by bending its middle part around the rod until its ends are matched together, as shown in Fig. 6, and form a cylindrical shank corresponding to the shank 4. The shoulders 10 and 10 then provide a continuous shoulder or ledge adapted to bear on the end of the pillar to the limit of penetration of the shank thereinto. The edges of the end parts 4 and 49 are recessed at 6 and 6 to provide at each location half of a hole (3 through which the screw or equivalent retainer 7 may pass.

This alternative form of bearing may also be made of half round stock olfset and bent in its middle part to form the annular bearing and with its ends brought together to provide the shank. The shoulder at the base of said shank is not essential because the retainer limits the penetration of the bearing member as well as preventing its removal.

Each of the hereinbefore described forms or modifications of the bearing member has its own peculiar advantages, among which may be named that of more ornamental finish and design for the one first described and inseparability of the parts or portions of the second form.

The support or bearing in which the new step of the invention lies as herein described is called for convenience a center bearing. This term is not intended to imply that the hearing or support must be placed exactly midway or at any other specific point between the end supports of the rod, but is used with a broad significance as meaning a bearing located at any pointbetween the end supports where an additional support is needed.

Neither the foregoing detailed description nor the illustration of the drawing is to be construed as limiting the use of the center bearing to rods on which keys and hole covers are directly mounted, or as excluding its use in combinations where the rotation of the red by a key, or of a hole cover by the rod, or both, is indirect and accomplished through the medium of cams. That is, in some key mechanisms the rod with which my center bearing is used may carry a cam instead of the whole cover 6, arranged to operate a hole cover pivoted on independent supports; and similarly instead of the key f being mounted directly on the rod, it may be mounted independently thereof and arranged to rotate the rod through the medium of a cam connected to the key and a cam connected to the rod, or by mechanical equivalents thereof.

hat I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a wood wind instrument the combination with a body, supporting posts secured to said body, a rod mounted at its ends by said posts, and controlling members secured to said rod, of a center support secured to the instrument body between said posts and having separable parts provided with recesses so formed that when said parts are brought together the recesses form a bearing substantially surrounding the rod, said parts being separable, prior to assemblage with the rod and with the instrument body, to a distance greater than th diameter of the rod.

2. A cent-er support as and for the purpose set forth comprising a pillar to be secured to the body of a wood wind instrument and a bearing constructed of separable members having recesses conformable to the. rod, which members substantially surround the rod when assembled and the capacity for separation of said members, prior to such assemblage, being greater than the diameter of the rod; said pillar and bearing also having provisions for making detachable connect-ion with one another.

3. A center support for the purpose described comprising a pillar, a bearing constructed to embrace and confine a rod and having provision for application laterally thereto, said bearing having also a shank and the pillar having a socket into which said shank is adapted to be placed, and a retainer passing through said pillar and shank.

i. A center support for the purpose described comprising a pillar, a bearing constructed to embrace and confine a rod and having provision for application laterally thereto, said bearing having also a shank and the pillar having a socket constructed to receive said shank, and a retainer passing through said pillar and shank, said retainer having a conical end protruding from one side of the pillar and adapted to serve as a cone bearing for a key mechanism.

5. A center bearing for the purpose set forth comprising a pillar to be secured to the body of a wood wind instrument and having a socket in its outer end, and a bearing having a shank to be inserted into said socket, said shank being longitudinally divided whereby its parts may be separated to permit application of the bearing laterally upon and about a rod to be supported thereby.

In testimony whereof I have aiiixed my signature.

ALLEN LOOMIS. 

